The issue of political party spending featured prominently during the Western Australian Senate re-election in a manner that we are rarely, if at all, accustomed to in Australian politics. This time, it…

The only surprising factor in the stories regarding Joe Bullock, who held the number one position on the ALP Senate ticket at Saturday’s Western Australian Senate byelection, was that they took so long…

Clive Palmer will now lead a party in a very powerful position.
AAP/Daniel Munoz6 avril 2014

Regardless of whether the Liberals’ Linda Reynolds or Labor’s Senator Louise Pratt wins the last West Australian Senate seat, the Abbott government will need the support of Clive Palmer’s PUP to pass any…

Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party has had a strong result at the Western Australian senate byelection.
AAP/Tim Clarke6 avril 2014

One of biggest issues to be addressed in tomorrow’s WA Senate poll - and perhaps one of the most complex, too - is how best to maintain the state’s growth trajectory through the forthcoming period of transition…

Western Australia has been the capital of grip and grin in recent weeks, but how will it all play out at the ballot box come tomorrow?
AAP/Richard Wainwright4 avril 2014

Ahead of polling day tomorrow in the Western Australian Senate re-election, the University of Western Australia’s Natalie Mast sat down with election analyst and PhD candidate William Bowe (aka “The Poll…

ALP leader Bill Shorten says a Senate byelection campaign is so unusual that all parties are ‘making it up as you go along’.
AAP/Tim Clarke3 avril 2014

Federal ALP leader Bill Shorten recently likened the sensation of campaigning at the Western Australian Senate byelection to riding downhill on a tricycle with legs and feet akimbo. This assessment is…

At the last federal election, there was a very close exclusion which affected the final result in the WA Senate. This was compounded by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) losing 1400 votes. Acting…

Former Education Minister Bill Shorten addresses the teachers rally in WA: but did he cut their funding?
AAP2 avril 2014

“I think it’s more than a tad hypocritical of the Labor Party to be campaigning against what it says are cuts to school funding when Bill Shorten as education minister cut $1.2 billion out of school funding…

Leading economist Ross Garnaut has weighed in on the WA Senate re-election and the importance of keeping the carbon tax.
AAP/Julian Smith2 avril 2014

There’s been a lot of international focus on Western Australia in recent weeks. The search for the lost Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is being led from Perth. But it also turns out that Western Australia…

Leaders of both major parties are campaigning in Western Australia this week as the state heads back to the polls to elect six senators.
AAP/Richard Wainwright1 avril 2014

Western Australians will head back to the polls to elect six members of the Senate this Saturday. But what are the issues that caused the original result to be declared void? And what are some of the more…

Most Western Australian voters are justifiably annoyed at having to vote again as a result of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) losing 1370 Senate votes cast in the September 2013 federal election…

Western Australian voters will head back to the polls next month to re-elect six senators.
AAP/Paul Miller23 mars 2014

Voters in Western Australia will head back to the polls on April 5 to re-elect six federal senators following a Court of Disputed Returns decision in February. Ahead of polling day, the University of Western…

Last week a Nielsen poll gave the Coalition its first poll lead from a reputable pollster since November last year. This week’s Newspoll has given Labor its biggest lead since prior to the 2010 election…

What are the key issues the parties will campaign on in the almost-certain WA Senate re-vote?
AAP/Paul Miller18 février 2014

It appears certain that Western Australians will vote in fresh Senate elections later this year. Following the initial vote last September and the recount – when 1375 votes were unable to be located…

Out, then in, then out again: Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was returned in a recount, but says the court made the ‘right call’ because voters were disenfranchised when votes went missing.
AAP/Alan Porritt18 février 2014

Although the Court of Disputed Returns has not yet formally declared that Western Australia’s half-Senate election was void, Justice Hayne’s judgment has made it clear that this is the necessary, or as…

A judgment on whether voters in Western Australia will return to the polls to re-elect their senators is due on Monday. What’s the legal background to it all?
AAP/Paul Miller30 janvier 2014

This week, a lone High Court judge faced a table of 13 barristers to begin resolving the Western Australian Senate election quandary. The hearing took two days and a judgment is likely sooner or later…

Are fixed term elections the answer to the AEC’s problems, as identified in the report into the handling of the ballot papers in Western Australia?
AAP/Lukas Coch10 décembre 2013

The release of Mick Keelty’s report on the missing Western Australian Senate ballot papers from the 2013 federal election gives us an unusually in-depth look at how the Australian Electoral Commission…